Exodus 7:10

7:10 When ¹  Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw ²  down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. ³ 

Exodus 14:2

14:2 “Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp ⁴  before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it. ⁵ 

Exodus 28:30

28:30 “You are to put the Urim and the Thummim ⁶  into the breastpiece of decision; and they are to be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord. Aaron is to bear the decisions ⁷  of the Israelites over his heart before the Lord continually.

Exodus 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, ⁸  the way a person speaks ⁹  to a friend. Then Moses ¹⁰  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. ¹¹ 

Exodus 33:19

33:19 And the Lord ¹²  said, “I will make all my goodness ¹³  pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name ¹⁴  before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” ¹⁵ 

Exodus 34:24

34:24 For I will drive out ¹⁶  the nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one will covet ¹⁷  your land when you go up ¹⁸  to appear before the Lord your God three times ¹⁹  in the year.

[7:10]  ¹ tn The clause begins with the preterite and the vav (ו) consecutive; it is here subordinated to the next clause as a temporal clause.

[7:10]  ² tn Heb “and Aaron threw.”

[7:10]  ³ tn The noun used here is תַּנִּין (tannin), and not the word for “serpent” or “snake” used in chap. 4. This noun refers to a large reptile, in some texts large river or sea creatures (Gen 1:21; Ps 74:13) or land creatures (Deut 32:33). This wonder paralleled Moses’ miracle in 4:3 when he cast his staff down. But this is Aaron’s staff, and a different miracle. The noun could still be rendered “snake” here since the term could be broad enough to include it.

[14:2]  ⁴ tn The two imperfects follow the imperative and therefore express purpose. The point in the verses is that Yahweh was giving the orders for the direction of the march and the encampment by the sea.

[14:2]  ⁵ sn The places have been tentatively identified. W. C. Kaiser summarizes the suggestions that Pi-Hahiroth as an Egyptian word may mean “temple of the [Syrian god] Hrt” or “The Hir waters of the canal” or “The Dwelling of Hator” (“Exodus,” EBC 2:387; see the literature on these names, including C. DeWit, The Date and Route of the Exodus, 17).

[28:30]  ⁷ sn The Urim and the Thummim were two objects intended for determining the divine will. There is no clear evidence of their size or shape or the material of which they were made, but they seem to have been familiar items to Moses and the people. The best example of their use comes from 1 Sam 14:36-42. Some have suggested from the etymologies that they were light and dark objects respectively, perhaps stones or sticks or some other object. They seem to have fallen out of use after the Davidic period when the prophetic oracles became popular. It may be that the title “breastpiece of judgment” indicates that these objects were used for making “decisions” (J. P. Hyatt, Exodus [NCBC], 283-84). U. Cassuto has the most thorough treatment of the subject (Exodus, 378-82); he lists several very clear rules for their uses gathered from their instances in the Bible, including that they were a form of sacred lot, that priests or leaders of the people only could use them, and that they were used for discovering the divine will in areas that were beyond human knowledge.

[28:30]  ⁸ tn Or “judgment” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV). The term is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), the same word that describes the breastpiece that held the two objects. Here it is translated “decisions” since the Urim and Thummim contained in the breastpiece represented the means by which the Lord made decisions for the Israelites. The high priest bore the responsibility of discerning the divine will on matters of national importance.

[33:11]  ¹⁰ tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

[33:11]  ¹¹ tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

[33:11]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:11]  ¹³ sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.

[33:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ¹⁴ sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  ¹⁵ tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  ¹⁶ sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.

[34:24]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is a Hiphil imperfect of יָרַשׁ (yarash), which means “to possess.” In the causative stem it can mean “dispossess” or “drive out.”

[34:24]  ¹⁷ sn The verb “covet” means more than desire; it means that some action will be taken to try to acquire the land that is being coveted. It is one thing to envy someone for their land; it is another to be consumed by the desire that stops at nothing to get it (it, not something like it).

[34:24]  ¹⁸ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffixed subject to form the temporal clause.

[34:24]  ¹⁹ tn The expression “three times” is an adverbial accusative of time.